Security lapse at the Western Wall: Worshippers testify that the security guards stationed at the Western Wall plaza gates do not bother to check them - even when the surveillance stations beep and alert.
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According to a report by Mordechai Halperin on Galei Tzahal, the police confirm and claim: This is due to overcrowding at the gates and alleys.
Although there is a ban on bringing sharp objects into the plaza without permission, according to testimonies received by IDF Radio, people carrying weapons entered without being inspected.
""I went in with a gun, the device beeped, but the security guard just told me to come in," says M., a citizen with a firearms license.
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation did not respond.
The Israel Police told Galei Tzahal: "During the days of atonement, tens of thousands of worshippers and visitors visit the Western Wall plaza every evening. This is a complex mass event that requires careful risk management, and its foundation is maintaining public safety while preventing a real danger of crowding at the gates and alleys.
""In order to provide the best response and enable safe flow of the public, the police operate in a number of overt and covert security circles, including technological means, whose function is to identify anomalies and remove any threat or suspicion, starting from the Old City's perimeter, through the thoroughfares and gates, and all the way to the Western Wall plaza.".
